The present invention relates to a connector, and more particularly to protection of a terminal connecting portion in a connector for connecting a plurality of electric wires, such as a charging connector which is used for recharging an electric car.
Heretofore, there have been proposed various connectors for connecting a plurality of electric wires, such as a charging connector, for example, which connects a battery of an electric car to a charger so as to easily establish a connection between them.
FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a connector disclosed in Japanese Publication No. JP-A-6-231832 of unexamined patent application, for example, showing inner structures of a female connector 31 which is arranged on a vehicle side (a battery side) and a male connector 32 which is arranged on a charger side.
The above described female connector 31 to be mounted on a vehicle body of a car includes a plurality of female terminals 33 contained in a housing 31a and connected to the battery side which is not shown. On the other hand, the above described male connector 32 is attached to one end of a cable 4 which has been drawn from the charger which is not shown. This cable 4 includes a plurality of electric wires (not shown) which have been bundled and covered, and has appropriate flexibility as a whole.
As shown in FIG. 3, the aforesaid male connector 32 has an inner case 35 which contains, in its forward end portion, a plurality of connecting terminals 38 to be respectively connected to the electric wires (not shown) in the cable 4, a sleeve 37 which is fitted around the inner case 35 and to which a locking ring 36 to be engaged with the aforesaid female connector 31 is rotatably fitted, and a connector grip 39 which is a cable holding tubular part continued from a backward end of the sleeve 37 to hold an end of the cable 4.
The aforesaid connector grip 39 is formed in a tubular shape which opens at both ends, and fitted to a backward end of the aforesaid inner case 35 in tight contact to be retained from withdrawal. On an inner face of the connector grip 39, there are provided, at an appropriate interval, a plurality of clamping ribs 40 in a ring-like shape which are adapted to be pressure contacted with an outer face of the cable 4 so as to hold the cable 4. The connector grip 39 holds the cable 4 without twisting, by means of these clamping ribs 40.
Therefore, because the aforesaid cable 4 on the side of the male connector 32 is held by the aforesaid connector grip 39 along a range of predetermined length adjacent to its end portion, the cable 4 will not directly hang down from a part connected to the connecting terminals 38, and therefore, weight of the cable 4 itself will not directly affect the part connected to the connecting terminals 38. Moreover, in a work for joining the above described female and male connectors 31, 32 to each other, alignment of both the connectors can be stably conducted by gripping the aforesaid connector grip 39, and thus, the connector engaging work will be facilitated.
However, in the connector as described above, in case where the cable to be held by the connector grip 39 includes a plurality of electric wires (cables) which have not been bundled in one, the clamping ribs 40 projectingly provided on the inner face cannot retain these electric wires.
In addition, in case where an outer diameter of the aforesaid cable 4 has been changed due to changes of the electric wires in size or number, the aforesaid connector grip 39 must be also changed in its shape or size, and the connector grip 39 is lacking in general versatility. Therefore, there has been such a problem that a plurality of the connector grips 39 for different shapes and sizes must be prepared, which may incur an increase of production cost.
In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to solve the above described problems, and to provide a favorable connector in which a terminal connecting portion in the connector to which a plurality of electric wires are connected can be reliably protected.
The above described object of the present invention will be attained by a connector comprising a connector portion in which a plurality of connecting terminals respectively connected to wire ends of a plurality of electric wires are contained, a wire holding tubular part continuously provided at a backward end of the connector portion for holding portions of the electric wires adjacent to the wire ends, an annular fixing member through which the plurality of the electric wires are passed, and an elastic fixing member through which the plurality of the electric wires are passed at a position more close to the wire ends than the annular fixing member, thereafter, the elastic fixing member being tightened by means of a fastening member around its outer peripheral part thereby to be fixed to the electric wires at a predetermined position,
characterized in that there is provided, on an inner face of the wire holding tubular part, a fixing part for fixing the annular fixing member at a predetermined position.
According to the above described structure, after the plurality of the electric wires have been passed, the elastic fixing member which is elastically deformable will be tightened by the fastening member at the outer peripheral part thereby to be reduced in diameter, and fixed to these electric wires at the predetermined position.
As the results, the aforesaid elastic fixing member can be easily and reliably fixed to the predetermined position of the aforesaid electric wires, irrespective of the diameter, number, or changes in the sectional shape of the electric wires.
Then, when the aforesaid electric wires are pulled, the aforesaid elastic fixing member which has been arranged more close to the wire ends than the annular fixing member fixed to the fixing part of the wire holding tubular part will come into contact with the annular fixing member, and will be prevented from moving.
More specifically, the aforesaid elastic fixing member through which the plurality of the electric wires have been passed varies in its outer diameter, when reduced in diameter, according to differences in the diameter or number of the electric wires. However, the aforesaid elastic fixing member cannot pass through the wire insertion holes in the aforesaid annular fixing member, because the wire insertion holes are open in such a shape that the aforesaid elastic fixing member cannot pass through.
In conclusion, when the electric wires are pulled, movement of the aforesaid elastic fixing member will be restrained, and at the same time, movement of the electric wires will be also restrained. Accordingly, the plurality of the connecting terminals connected to the aforesaid wire ends will be prevented from being affected by an external force when the electric wires are pulled.
Preferably, there is provided a locking part which can lock the aforesaid elastic fixing member, at a position adjacent to the connector portion in the aforesaid fixing part on the inner face of the aforesaid wire holding tubular part.
In this case, because the elastic fixing member is locked to the locking part of the wire holding tubular part, movement of the electric wire toward the wire ends and rattling of the elastic fixing member itself can be prevented.